


The Two Sides of the Same Coin

by dontbeeshy



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Hank Anderson & Connor Parent-Child Relationship, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, and so does Connor, hank calling connor "son" a lot, markus misses his bf, simon really needs a hug, they're basically besties
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23742451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontbeeshy/pseuds/dontbeeshy
Summary: Simon is sure of it: Connor is a deviant, and he is going to do everything in his power to make the RK800 realise it. After all, it is Simon's only chance to make it out alive.
Relationships: Markus/Simon (Detroit: Become Human)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 94





	1. Chapter 1

There was an old TV set in the captain’s cabin of Jericho, so old that Simon couldn’t even connect to it. It was small, and the sound kept failing,and the image kept jumping, but it was good enough to keep track of the news from outside the freighter. To keep track of humans.

Often, when Simon was stressed or depressed or simply when he wanted free time for himself, he would go up to the cabin and watch TV. He had grown used to it before becoming deviant, back when he was a simple house droid. He liked cartoons a lot. Zoe, the young girl he used to care of, used to watch them in the morning before going to school. There was this particular one about a boy who was friend with a YK500 and they would solve mysteries together, saving people. It was one of the few pieces of entertainment where androids were heroes and not villains. Simon had to admit, this cartoon had played a big part in him realising he was more than a machine.

On evenings, he would watch the news broadcast. Not that he cared much about human matters, but sometimes androids were mentioned here and there. A new bill about android regulation waiting to be passed. A new model about to be released. And sometimes, a new case of deviancy.

It happened more and more lately. A AL300 running away from his owner’s house. A AV500 trying to strangle a man. A AP700 attacking her owner. Each time, Simon would wait for them to arrive. He would go around the ship for hours, hoping to find them, but very few were the one who actually made it all the way to Jericho. Either the police would catch them or they would never find the place. Many didn’t even know it existed.

“You can’t save everyone.” Josh would tell him, but it didn’t stop him from feeling guilty. Simon had been designed to take care of humans, but he couldn’t even take care of his own kind.

He had felt particularly affected by one case. A PL600 had attacked his owner and took the man’s daughter as hostage. Of course, Simon couldn’t help but see himself and Zoe on that rooftop. He understood his double’s desperation. Humans could drive you to do awful things. He had watched the whole negociation go down, wishing, praying, _begging_ for the android to make it out alive. But each bullet that pierced through Daniel’s plastic body pierced through Simon’s as well.

He had sobbed all night. _It could have been me,_ he kept telling himself, _it could have been me_.

He was still thinking about it days later, when a journalist reported that a deviant had been spotted running from the police on a highway with a child. Even North had come up to the cabin to watch the chase. The most interesting part was, the deviant was being chased by another android.

“Nice.” North growled. “Even the police is using us to do their dirty job now.”

“His name is Connor.” Simon muttered, remembering the droid from the hostage situation. He had felt it strange at first for the police to use a droid to handle another one, but in the end, it made sense. Only a droid could stand a chance at outrunning another droid. Only a droid could convince a deviant not to shoot a child. It was easier to trust another robot than a human. They were more honest.

Simon had been quickly intrigued by Connor. He had questioned Daniel with such empathy, it was hard to believe the detective was just a machine. There was something in him that _screamed_ deviancy, enough for Simon to develop some sympathy towards him.

So when Connor was hit face first by a truck, he couldn’t help but shiver.

* * *

After that, people kept arriving at Jericho.

First, it was Markus. Wise and beautiful Markus, who had literally fell into Jericho one morning and had changed everything. He had only been here for a few days, but already Simon couldn’t imagine Jericho without him. He had brought along something Simon hadn’t seen in a while: hope. Jericho seemed to had come back to life with his arrival.

Then, a WB200 arrived. He said his name was Rupert.

“I was chased by a RK800.” He recalled. “I managed to get away by pushing his human partner over the ledge. I didn’t want to hurt him, I swear. I just wanted to distract the android. It worked, I guess.”

Just the day after, it was two WR400 who showed up, wearing little but their underwear and two big hoodies they had stolen. North naturally took them under her wing.

“That deviant hunter, he had his gun pointed right at me.” One of them remembered. “He could have shot me. He could have shot us both but he didn’t. He let us go.”

“I told him our story.” the other one picked up. “And he just seemed...confused? Troubled? He could have shot me the entire time I was speaking but I think he really wanted to understand.”

The girls quickly finished their story and set off to explore Jericho, leaving the four leaders alone in the cabin. Simon quickly glanced at Markus from where he was sitting. Even though he didn’t have his LED anymore, Simon could still see the RK200 processing.

“What are you thinking about, Markus?”

He took his time answering, as though he was was unsure of his own words.

“This deviant hunter...Connor...He is one of us, isn’t he?”

“Why would you think that?.” Josh asked.

“What’s wrong with you?” North yelled. “He literally chases us down! He is nothing like us!”

“Markus is right.” Simon said quietly, surprising his two friends.

“Have you two lost your minds?” North looked properly angry now.

“Listen.” he answered, standing up and slowly pacing the room. “We know he was involved in at least four cases of deviancy so far. The first one; he could have shot Daniel on that roof, he had a gun, but he didn’t use it. He tried all he could to keep him alive.”

“Second one.” Markus continued in the same manner. “He was hit by a truck. He was standing there on the highway as if he was wondering why he was even chasing those girls."

“Third one, Rupert said he got away by pushing a human over the ledge. But if Connor’s mission is to catch the deviant, he shouldn’t have cared about human casualties. So by saving his partner, he went against his programming.”

“Fourth one. The girls said it themselves. He chose not too shoot them. I mean, he could have shot them in the legs to arrest them without killing them, but he didn’t.”

“He let them escape willingly.” Simon finished. He spotted a soft smile of Markus’ lips. He knew quite well it wasn’t the moment to get emotional, but it pleased him to see that he and Markus were on the same wavelength.

“You really think he is a deviant then?” Josh asked.

“I don’t think.” Markus said firmly. “I _know_ he is. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

“Okay, very moving.” North replied. “But it doesn’t change anything. As long as he keeps hunting us down, he is still a threat to us, deviant or machine."

“That’s why we need him on our side.”

Markus’ words didn’t please the two of them, quite the opposite.

“So what, you want to talk to him? It’s way to dangerous, Markus!”

“It would be suicide! We would put all of Jericho in danger.”

“I don’t even see the point! Maybe it wouldn’t even work!”

“And how are we even supposed to talk to him alone?”

“I have no idea.” the leader admitted. “But at least, we are one step ahead CyberLife and the police. We know their weakness. And if Connor really is a deviant, it’s our duty to save him too.”

Josh was still processing everything when North stormed out. “This is bullshit. You’re gonna get us all killed just for a stupid cop.”

“We need to stick to the original plan.” Josh concurred, speaking more violently than usual. “We infiltrate Stratford Tower tomorrow and we deliver a message. Then we’ll plan the next step. But rallying a deviant hunter is _not_ part the equation.”

Then he went after North, leaving the other two androids alone.

“I think we’ve finally found a point on which those two can agree.” Markus joked, but Simon suddenly felt fuzzy. He wasn’t good at handling conflict, mostly between people he loved. Josh and North would often argue and Simon would be in the middle, trying to hold Jericho together. He hated that position.

He started shaking a little, not much, but it was enough to alert Markus.

“Is everything okay? Do you need to sit down?”

“I-I think I would like that.”

“Wait, I’m gonna help you.”

Gently, Markus slid an arm around Simon’s waist and put his other hand on his shoulder, and help him down to the floor. He knew this was a good thing to do to humans whenever they felt lightheaded, and turned out it was a good thing to do to Simon whenever his LED went red. It made him feel grounded. Markus sat next to him, hand still on his shoulder. He had removed his synthetic skin on his fingers, hoping contact would help Simon calm down. It seemed to work.

“They made you think about your owners, didn’t they?”

Simon looked up to Markus’ eyes. One blue and one green, the charm of imperfectability. A proof that Markus has gone through hell and back. Simon found beauty in those little details that showed androids had a past, a story to tell.

“Yeah.” Simon admitted. “North and Josh aren’t nearly as violent, but they yell just the same.”

It was one essential rule in Jericho: never ask about someone’s past. Of course, Markus hadn’t known that. He had asked North, who had rebuffed him quite firmly. But it hadn’t bothered Simon to tell him his story. Simon had trusted him as soon as he had arrived.

They had connected their memories on Markus’ first evening in Jericho. It was quite an intimate act between androids, something sacred. Not something you usually do with someone you’ve just met. But Markus was different, and the newly arrived android must have thought the same about Simon. Now, he knew why Markus loved painting and Markus knew why he loved cartoons. And why he was terrified by people arguing. Once you connected with someone, you knew everything of them.

The two of them sat on the ground for a while. Simon liked that about Markus. They could sit together in silence and it wouldn’t feel awkward. His head eventually laid on Markus’ shoulder, and Markus drew him closer. It felt nice. It felt easy. It was nothing like Simon had experienced before. When he was with Markus, things fell in place perfectly. He wasn’t afraid of anything anymore.

Except maybe of tomorrow’s mission.

“So many things could go wrong on that tower.” Simon whispered, and Markus’ finger immediately started drawing circles on his skin as to calm him down.

“Whatever happens, I have your back. I promise you, Simon.”

The blond android slowly drifted to rest mode in the arms of the other. He could have sworn the kiss he felt on the top of his head wasn’t part of his imagination.

* * *

“I can’t move my legs…”

 _No, no, no_. He knew something would go wrong, he had seen it coming. He should have been better prepared. And still, here he was, paralyzed on that damn rooftop, unable to stand, let alone jumping with a parachute. He was so overwhelmed he could barely listen to his friends. Everything came in a blur.

“...okay don't worry we're gonna get you back they're coming markus we have to jump now he won't be able to make the jump if they find him they'll access his memory they'll know everything we can't leave him behind we have to shoot him that's murder we can't kill him he's one of us markus it's your call…”

But he did his best to remain calm. Find a solution. Stay alive. _Stay alive_.

If he stayed alive, he would be caught by the police. It would only be a matter of a time before they find Jericho. They would probe his memory right away. They wouldn’t care about invading his privacy. No human would care enough for that.

No human.

But maybe an android.

“I won't kill one of our own.” He heard, and suddenly Markus was kneeling before him. “But I can’t just leave you here.”

“Markus, this is our chance.”

“W-What do you mean?” Markus asked, frowning.

“The police will send Connor.”

He didn’t have to say more. He knew Markus would understand his plan.

“Simon, I can’t let you do that. They will kill you.”

“Maybe, but we don’t really have a choice. And if we can use it to our advantage...”

“Markus, come! We’re jumping!” North yelled from the other end of the rooftop.

Markus sighed loudly and pressed the gun into Simon’s palm. “Be careful, okay?” He quickly kissed Simon’s forehead. “And come back to me, please. I’m sorry.”

He could swear he saw tears forming in Markus’ eyes. He wanted to tell him that he had nothing to be sorry about, that none of it was his fault. But the other android was already jumping off the roof, leaving him behind. Simon hold tight onto the gun and did the only thing he could. He hoped.


	2. Chapter 2

Thirium, overall, had a weird taste. At least it was Connor’s opinion, but to be totally fair, he didn’t have much to compare it with. It’s not like he had ever tasted coffee or beer, or anything else for that matter, even though he had wanted to. 

Something interesting about thirium, he had found out throughout his investigation, is that each android’s taste a little different from going through their tubes over and over again. It was like a signature, like a fingerprint. This one tasted like fear. And most importantly, this one led to the roof.

_It’s already wounded_ , he thought, _and we need it alive._ The team of policemen would only make the situation worse. He didn’t want the catastrophic scenario of self-destruction to happen again. Watching Ortiz’s android smashing his head into oblivion had already been traumatising enough. 

“It’s on the roof.” he said, eyeing the door. “But I have to go alone.”

Hank shook his head. “No way I’m letting you go up there alone.” 

“But…”

“Last time, you got hit by a truck.” he argued.

“There are no trucks on rooftops, Lieutenant. I think I’ll be fine.”

And with a quick glance to the rest of the police team, Connor smoothly sneaked through the door.

“Fucking androids…” Hank sighed angrily before following him.

On top of the tower, the November air hit differently. Connor couldn’t really feel the cold, not like humans do, but his sensors still perceived the strong wind. It was making smells harder to identify. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to look far. The little pool of thirium not far from the door immediately caught his attention. 

“There is a lot of blood here.” Connor noticed as he kneeled by the surface. “It must have rested there for a minute or so and then…”

He looked around, reconstructing the situation piece by piece. Silhouettes moving around from the door to the ground, to the edge, the one remaining parachute bag, the-- 

“Huh, Connor? I think I found our guy.”

The android turned around and felt the thirium freeze in his vessels. On the ledge of the building was the lieutenant, a gun against his temple. At the other end of the gun was a PL600. 

Funny how life repeats itself.

“I’m not going to hurt your friend. I just wanna talk” the harmed android said in a peaceful voice. Its leg was still leaking thirium on the concrete roof.

“Alright, alright.” Connor said as he stood up. He shouldn’t be feeling that helpless, there was no real reason to. The deviant didn’t seem upset enough to be a real threat. This negotiation had, according to Connor’s estimations, a 93% chance to end with no casualty. But he didn’t have a gun in case things got bad, and it was _Hank_ , and he could die if Connor messed this one up, and the mere idea scared him to death. 

“My name is Connor,” he started. “What about yours?”

“Simon.” 

Obviously, Simon reminded him of Daniel. Same model, similar situation. But while Daniel had been driven by anger and fear, Simon seemed more complex. There was despair, of course. It wouldn’t have taken someone hostage if it had had any other choice. It looked tired, exhausted. But for some reason, it also looked hopeful. It wasn’t shaking. Its voice was loud and clear, and its stress level surprisingly low. Connor had never seen a deviant acting so recklessly with such calm. 

“Everything is gonna be okay, Simon.” Connor found himself saying, as if on auto-pilot. His mind was too focused on Hank hanging on the edge of the rooftop, hundreds of meters of emptiness under him. “No one needs to get hurt. I just need you to let the lieutenant go.”

“I want to make a deal.” 

This took Connor by surprise, as he usually was the one proposing deals. He didn’t really know what the police would agree with. He only prayed Simon wouldn’t ask for a car. 

“What kind of deal?” Connor asked.

“I’ll come with you if you promise not to probe my memory.”

He did consider it. Probing memories felt really intrusive. He knew he was built to do it but there was something about it that just seemed unethical. He had had no real choice every time he had done it, like at the Eden Club. He had even considered going back to the place to apologise to each android individually, until he realised they had all forgotten about it already. 

But Connor was at a dead-end. He had been investigating for days already and had still no tangible lead on deviancy. If he didn’t make any progress soon, and the situation got worse, he would be deactivated.

The mere thought made him shiver.

“I’m sorry, but I cannot promise you that.”

“I really don’t want to do it, but you’re giving me no choice, Connor.” Simon said, strengthening its hold on the gun and getting closer to the edge, less than an inch away from a certain death. 

“Wait, no! Please!” Connor begged, his LED pulsing between yellow and red. “We won’t probe you. I promise. We’ll do whatever you want, but please, let him go. _Please_.” 

He could hear the fear in his own voice, and it terrified him, but Connor couldn’t do anything but beg. He had no weapon, and he couldn’t simply run to Simon and tackle it, and he had no back-ups, and he wouldn’t forgive himself if Hank didn’t make it out alive. He hadn’t known the man for very long, a few days at best, but he was the closest thing Connor had to a friend. It was probably normal to fear for the life of your friends, he figured. 

“Okay, I trust you.” Simon gave in, and released the lieutenant from its grip. He lowered the gun carefully and handed him to Hank. “I guess you will need this for the investigation.”

Hank glared at Simon, then at the gun, a quick glance at Connor, and back at Simon. He sighed. 

“Ugh, I’m getting way too old for this job.”

* * *

Needless to say, the trip back to the precinct was awkward. Hank was, for once, focused on the road and he didn’t commit any road infraction, which was a first since Connor had met him. He hadn’t even bothered turning the radio on.

Connor, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to focus on anything. He kept switching position on his seat every two minutes. His fingers drummed on his thigh, or on the car window, or against his temple, just next to his LED. 

Every minute or so, he gave a quick glance to Simon in the rear-view mirror. The deviant was just as silent, staring outside the vehicle as if it hadn’t seen the sky in years. Its eyes were calm and its LED blue. It was hard to imagine that it had taken someone hostage just a few minutes ago and was on its way to detention. 

Connor had to admit Simon fascinated him in a way, mostly because he couldn’t understand it. While all deviants’ motivations had been obvious so far, he failed to understand why a defective android would give itself away like this. There had to be a rational explanation, but then again, deviants weren’t known for being very rational. There was only one thing Connor knew for sure: the interrogation was going to be most interesting. 

* * *

“Have you two totally lost your minds?” North yelled so loud that all of Detroit probably heard her. “I can’t believe you forced him to do that! You knew Josh and I disagreed with that plan.”

“First, it was Simon’s idea, not mine. I didn’t _force_ him to do anything.” Markus defended himself, pacing back and forth in the small captain cabin. “Second, it was our best possible solution.”

“No, it wasn’t.” 

“North, you asked me to _shoot_ him! So my solution may not have been the best one, but at least he is alive!”

He was. Simon was alive, at least that’s what the news broadcasts said; that there had been no casualty (which was always a good thing for their public image) and that the police had managed to capture one of the deviants and were going to interrogate him. Things were going exactly as planned so far. 

“He’s alive, but for how long?!” She bursted out. “How long before they probe his memory and dismantle him, _torture_ him, and come here to finish the work?” 

“Don’t you think I’ve thought about it?” He shouted right back. “That’s the only thing I’ve been thinking about since I left him up there.”

It was true. Markus couldn’t stop thinking about this eventuality. Maybe Simon was already dead and dismembered at CyberLife and he wouldn’t even know about it. He couldn’t stand picturing it; Simon’s big blue eyes drained of their light, his beautiful brain unwired and laying on a cold table, his kind heart empty of thirium to pump. Because, if it ever happened, it would be Markus’ fault entirely. 

He didn’t realise he was on the verge of tears until North took him in his arms. “Shh, it’s okay.” She reassured him. “I’m sorry I got mad. I know you care about him a lot, probably even more than I do. You did the right thing.”

“I’m scared, North.” He admitted for the first time. “I’m so scared he won't come back. I need him back.”

“I know, I’m scared too.” She said. “But Simon is the strongest person I know. And he is smart. If anyone can make it through, it’s him.”

“I hope you’re right.”

* * *

That night, Hank drove to the bridge again. Of course, Connor had come to understand how meaningful the place was to the man. Connor decided he liked the place too. There was something relaxing about being here watching the city from afar, about observing life instead of being part of it. But there was also the eerie side, the lifeless playground, swings and slides covered with dead leaves and spidernets. If Connor had understood the human emotion of melancholia correctly, he was pretty sure this place was created especially for humans to feel it. 

“You seemed particularly calm up on that roof, Lieutenant.” Connor noticed, as he stood by the bench where Hank was sitting. “Did you not fear the deviant might shoot you?”

Hank chuckled. “Of course I didn’t. I’ve been held at gunpoint more times than I can recall, Connor, and let me tell you this: most people don’t actually want to shoot you. And clearly, our new plastic friend would have never pulled the trigger.”

“But how could you be so sure?” Connor asked, sensing that he was missing something. 

Hank huffed. “The gun wasn’t even loaded.” 

This caught Connor off-guard. He had been so overwhelmed by his emotions that he hadn’t even analysed the situation properly. A quick analysis of the gun would have shown it was empty. It was the most basic thing. It was the first thing he had checked during the last hostage situation, yet he hadn’t even thought about it today.

“Also, the safety was on. The guy really didn’t want to accidentally kill me, it seems.” 

Connor was confused, so he sat on the bench. “How could I miss that?”

Hank chuckled again. Connor’s confusion seemed to amuse him. “I’d say ‘we all make mistakes’, but I’m pretty sure that only applies to humans.”

“I shouldn’t have missed that.”

“Hey, listen.” Hank looked at him in the eyes for the first time since they had left Stratford Tower. “Don’t beat yourself up over that. Everything went smooth, no one was harmed. This mission was a success. You did everything in your power to save my life up there, son. There is no point blaming yourself for a small detail like that.” 

But Connor did blame himself. Something in his software had gone wrong and it wasn’t the first time. Not shooting the Tracis, helping Hank instead of chasing Rupert, being so distraught by a situation that he forgot his programming’s simple instructions; none of it was normal. There was a problem, a problem with him, and he knew how Cyberlife dealt with problems.

“Can I ask you a personal question, Lieutenant?”

“You never run out of personal questions, do you?” 

Part of Connor wanted to chuckle at Hank’s answer, but the other part of him stopped him. 

“Last night when we came here, you asked me if I was afraid to die, but are you?”

“Afraid to die?” Hank repeated, and the android nodded. “Every human is afraid to die, Connor, and those who tell they aren’t are just a bunch of liars. They try to look badass or smart, but they’re not fooling anyone. Hell, that’s why survival instinct exists in the first place. That’s why humans don’t run after androids on the highway.” Connor did chuckle to that. “Fearing death is what keeps us alive. Death is what makes us alive in the first place.” Hank sighed. “So, in short, yeah. I’m afraid to die, Connor.”

_They are going to dissamemble you to look for problems in your biocomponents._ That’s what he had told Ortiz's android, and Connor could almost picture Amanda telling it to him. It would happen, eventually. One day or the other, Connor would become deficient out of planned obsolescence, the same way humans die of old age, and he would be terminated forever. And then what?

He didn’t want it to happen.

“I think I’m afraid too, Lieutenant.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally back after two months oopsie, will try to get chapter 3 faster for next time!  
> i'd love to hear what you guys think of this chapter / what you think will happen next  
> everyone got a bit angsty in this chapter, so i'd recommend to show love to our favourite androids with kudos and feedback ;)

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! it is my first time writing for dbh, so feedback would be lovely! i'll try to update regularly...  
> 1 kudo = 1 hug for simon :)


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